Monday, February 1, 2016

SC, Poe, vox populi, Osmena



The theory of Sen. Osmena, Poe's de facto spy inside the Liberal Party, is that if Poe wins the May 2016 presidential election without the Supreme Court having first resolved with finality Poe's petition questioning the Comelec resolutions which cancelled her certificate of candidacy, the SC will surely "obey the voice of the people" (and grant Poe's pending petition).

Osmena erroneously believes that the SC, as an independent constitutional branch of Government, is subject to the whims and caprices of partisan voters (of Poe) or the propaganda spins and lobbying enticements of political parties or the transitory socio-political passions of the times. .

In the first place, where in the 1987 Constitution or in our law books or in our political -law jurisprudence can Sen. Osmena find support for his theory that the "voice of the people" (i.e., partisan votes cast in favor of Poe) is a proper mode to amend the provisions of the 1987 Constitution on Citizenship?

If the SC abuses its " expanded power of judicial review" and intrusively adopts an attitude of "judicial activism" and "judicial legislation" to accommodate the political ambitions of Poe, it will kill the very foundations of Philippine democracy and republicanism, i.e., the doctrines of "separation of powers" and "checks and balances" among the three co-equal branches of Government, as enshrined in the 1935, 1973, and 1987 Constitutions

The SC is not empowered by the 1987 Constitution to amend or revise its sacred provisions.

The SC is not a "constituent assembly" (Congress) or a "constitutional convention" empowered by the 1987 Constitution to amend or revise its provisions.

The constitutional duty of the SC, as the court of last resort, is to "interpret and apply" the law and to "review the constitutionality" of laws passed by the Legislative and the administrative rules and regulations issued by the Executive, based on the concept of."grave abuse of discretion".

The SC and the "gods of Padre Faura" should not be intoxicated by the illusion that they are the superiors of the Legislative and the Executive.

The SC should know how to keep the constitutional balance and order.

The rule of law demands that the SC must be the first institution that should respect the constitutional limits of the powers of the three co-equal branches of Government.

In closing, we say to Osmena: Stop testing and tempting the SC to lose its mind.